[HodgepodgeHedgehog]

A female should NOT be bred under the age of 6 months, nor bred for the first time over the age of one year.

i'm not planning to ever breed, and i understand why they shouldn't be bred und the age of 6 months, but why not over the age of 1 year? (just curious)

okay, disregard this post...i didn't read the ones just ahead of it, or i would've gotten my answer...THANK YOU!

 

[Konakuer]

My hedgehog is about 9 months old, I want her to have babies but it would be around her 10 or 11 month, is it really dangerous? I will get a male hedgehog soon and I would like to start breeding since there aren't a lot of hedgehog breeders around my city, but I don't want to "experiment" with my female hedgie if it is really dangerous... I read on another site it's only dangerous after 1,5 year old.

 

[Guest]

It's dangerous to deliver after 12 months so you'd need to breed by 10 months to be safe.

Do you have lineage on your hedgehog? Even of you do on the female getting a suitable male in time from a good breeder is unlikely as most good ones have wait lists. It might be better to wait and get anothe female for breeding later

Also you'll need a mentor Someone to help you with the process

 

[Konakuer]

It's dangerous to deliver after 12 months so you'd need to breed by 10 months to be safe.

Do you have lineage on your hedgehog? Even of you do on the female getting a suitable male in time from a good breeder is unlikely as most good ones have wait lists. It might be better to wait and get anothe female for breeding later

Also you'll need a mentor Someone to help you with the process

I know the male has a good lineage since I know the breeder, but I am not sure about the mother... I was thinking too about getting another female, I guess there is not problem with the age of males.

Thanks for all the information posted here.

 

[Guest]

Males can breed at any age , it's the female that has limits.

If your iffy on her lineage you shouldnt breed her.

 

[Catters]

A question for the experienced hedgie owners: When is the best time to start doing a quick health check on the babies? And when is best to start handling them?
Some posts mention from 2 weeks on, others mention from around 4 weeks.
And I'm not going near the baby or babies unless I know there won't be a problem!
thanks!

(I think I heard 2 hedgie babies squeak, but have only seen one. Am so excited to find out how many are hiding in the house!)

 

[Nancy]

When to handle the babies totally depends on the mom. Usually by 2 weeks it is fine to start. Four weeks is too long unless mom has issues with it.

Of course, sometimes we have to look and check things out earlier than 2 weeks and it totally depends on mom how well she will tolerate it.

 

[Maddie The Hedgehog]

is it safe to breed a hedgie at the age of 10 months? mine is a female and i have a friend who has raised lots of exotic animals and has done his research plus he owns a male hedgie who is a little over 8 weeks old but he asked if i wanted to breed mine when his was old enough. mine is 6 months old right now so do you think that by the time his hedgie is old enough that mine would be ok to breed? or would it be unsafe?

 

[Lilysmommy]

The age would be safe, but you guys should both make sure you have the pedigrees of your hedgehogs so you can check with the IHA and make sure there's no WHS in their lines.

 

[Maddie The Hedgehog]

what is IHA? im not sure about the pedigrees of either of our hedgies to be honest. hope that doesnt sound bad =/ i still been doing a lot of thinking on breeding my baby but idk if i will or not, im just afraid something bad might happen. i do know that my hedgie came from a USDA licensed breeder and i do know where shes from and i have the breeders signature and phone number and address and what not.

 

[Maddie The Hedgehog]

i will have to ask him about his hedgie, im sure he would know. he wants to own his own exotic pet shop and hes working on that. he has all sorts of exotics

 

[Lilysmommy]

The IHA is the International Hedgehog Association. You can officially register your hedgehog with them, and if you have a hedgehog's pedigree, you can check with the IHA, who looks up the hedgehogs in your hedgehog's ancestry and can tell you how they died, whether it was from WHS or something else. The reason you want to check on this is to make sure that there's no WHS (Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome) in either one's background. It's a heartbreaking genetic disease that, if the hedgehog ends up having it, appears anywhere from 18 months to 2-3 years and it progressively paralyzes your hedgehog. There's no cure for it so far, and the only way we know to deal with it is to avoid breeding any hedgehogs that have signs of it in their background. That's why people stress having a pedigree to check so much - no one wants to see people or hedgehogs to have to deal with something so hard. It ultimately comes down to you on whether you want to breed your hedgehog or not, but please do consider the possible consequences of not having the pedigrees to double-check. I just posted this, if you're interested in reading, on things to consider in general when thinking about breeding - viewtopic.php?f=25&t=19339

Also make sure to do lots of research! I apologize if that seems like an obvious thing to do, but we get a lot of people who come in without having done any and usually it's the hedgehogs (mama & babies) who suffer. Even if your friend is doing lots of research, you'll want to make sure you do too. After all, it's your girl who's most at risk, not the male. There's lots to know about breeding hedgehogs, even if you're only doing it once. There's a lot of information in this section of the forum (Breeding & Babies) that's good to go through, and it'd be good to keep in contact with your breeder and see if she's willing to be available for any late-night calls and such in case of issues.

 

[Maddie The Hedgehog]

ive been doing research on that. ive done a little research on breeding before i adopted maddie but at the time(just out of curiosity) i didnt worry too much about it because i had no intention of breeding her so i never thought i wanted to do it so i didnt worry about that. i have some extra time to do some more research in between and after doing my school work. i still have nothing but plenty of time to decide because his hedgie isnt old enough to breed. thank you for helping me i really do appreciate it. i havent contacted my breeder in like 5 months since i adopted her so idk if she has her pedigree or not =/ she breeds lots of other hedgies and other exotics. i know she owns a petshop but she keeps some of her animals in her home from what ive seen. i would think that she would of gave me maddies pedigree in case i had an intentions of breeding her.

 

[Lilysmommy]

As far as I know, I don't think most breeders give out pedigrees unless they're specifically selling the hedgehog as a breeding quality hedgehog to another breeder, or unless the new owner requests the pedigree. If she's keeping track of her hedgehogs and keeping lineage records like she should, she should still be able to give you your girl's pedigree if you request it, though that doesn't necessarily mean she will. Good luck contacting her!

 

[Maddie The Hedgehog]

hmm im sure shes sold so many hedgies , i wonder how she would be able to tell which one is which? i doubt she would have maddie's pedigree after this long, im not even sure who the mother is. i know that her brother was albino but thats about it.

 

[Maddie The Hedgehog]

even so if i dont breed maddie, which is perfectly fine with me but if im able to i would love to adopt another hedgie. My friend is wanting to breed to help make some extra money but idk how well that will go but if i do breed her i want to be careful and i would want to keep one of her babies but i would have to get a separate cage and wheel.

 

[Immortalia]

A good breeder will have everything on file. The breeder should have your contact information as well as the hedgehogs identification and registry number if they register their hedgehogs. But either way, good breeder will have the information.

Good ethical breeders do not make money. It's not a get rich quick scheme. At any time you may lose the mom and babies or even the male. And if you wish to save them, it'll be expensive vet care. Good breeders just get by. Enough to break even and maybe have some extras. But they will never be rich just by doing this, which is why they have other jobs.

Also you will need at least 2 more extra cages. Most good breeders will wean the babies before letting them go to new homes to ensure they are eating well on their own. So you need at a minimum 2 more cage setups for the male and female babies.

 

[Lilysmommy]

I would hope she'd still have some way to keep track, at least of the parents. But you're right, she may not have. To be honest, if you can't get the pedigree and check it for WHS, I'd personally suggest against breeding your hedgie. Also, you might want to let your friend know that breeding is rarely a way to make extra money - if you're doing it correctly, you may come out even, but that's about it. I'm glad that you're thinking so much about whether you want to do it or not! Too many people just decide to breed on a whim. And, hoping I don't seem too self-important or something , but because I wrote this for situations similar to this, I just posted a thread earlier on the subject of breeding, if you're interested in reading - viewtopic.php?f=25&t=19339

 

[Maddie The Hedgehog]

no your fine and thank you guys, you guys are right. i just somehow doubt she would have her pedigrees on file. i would think that since shes usda approved that she would be a good reputable breeder, but after it being this long i think it would be awkward to text or call and ask her if she has my hedgies pedigree on file especially since a lot of hedgies look alike and i assume she might have more than one mother so its hard telling who the mother is or if the mother was already sold. i guess it doesnt hurt to try asking the breeder i suppose? but if things dont work out then i highly doubt i will breed her, i told my friend that i would think about it but im leaning more towards NO on that than YES but i would be more than happy to adopt one more hedgie probably of the same gender. however im not ready to adopt another yet, i gotta makes plans and ideas and get the money too.

 

[Maddie The Hedgehog]

to be honest i know that breeding is kinda complicated and you have to be careful with the mother, babies, and the father and keep the mom and dad separated but he just made it sound easy like it was no big deal. is that a bad thing?